Nationally recognized for excellence in design, construction and management of residential remodeling, Blackdog has served homeowners in Southern New Hampshire and Northeastern Massachusetts since 1989.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Here at Blackdog we have always been about improving our industry. Did you know that in the remodeling industry, on average, only 52% of the people who hire someone to remodel their home are happy with the experience? We think this is crazy but, it is a reality. The real key to improving this situation is education so Blackdog has responded by creating free consumer seminars to help people learn the best practices that will lead not only to a great finished product but also a great experience. We are offering two seminars in January on the 18th and 19th. To find our more information or register to attend visit www.blackdogbuilders.com.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

While we don't make the money that Matty in Morning makes we do have a fun little radio show called HOUSE TALK that we would love to have you listen to. Dave Bryan CRG,CAPS, often with Brenda Bryan CKD or another industry related guests opens the phone lines every Friday from 11am-12pm to answer questions or present information all about your home. If it is a maintenance question or a design dilemma or thoughts on future topics we can't wait to hear from you. All home related topics are fair game and we rarely get stumped! You can call in during the show @ 978 454-4980 or email us @ dbryan@blackdogbuilders.com. If you can't listen on Fridays we get rebroadcast on Sundays from 11am - 12pm so you can tune in then. We keep it fun and informative so if you have a home with an issue give us a try.

Friday, November 18, 2011

The quick answer to this question is based on the answer to two simple questions.

Question 1: Do you live in Massachusetts ?

Question 2: Do you have a large portion of your roof that faces South or at least mostly South?

If you answered yes to both of these questions then the odds are very good that Solar is for you. There are incredible rebate opportunities that exist in MA and if you want to invest in something that has a 16% return on the investment and can actually pay you every month then looking into Solar may be for you.

Many people have the mistaken belief that Solar electricity only works in parts of the US that are much farther West or South of New England. This is simply not true. Very viable solar installations can be installed right here right now.

Monday, October 24, 2011

As a small part of my day job, I host a radio show on AM980 WCAP called ""HOUSE TALK". We are on Fridays from 11-12 and then rebroadcast on Sundays. A fun and educational part of the show is having guests on the show from various home related business. I have had Dave Souter from Barons Major Brands a number of times and every time I have him on I learn something new. In a show we did a while back Dave shared with me the huge improvement in energy efficiency that has taken place in the refrigerator market over the last 10 years. In essence what Dave explained to me is that a fridge purchased today is about twice, yes twice as efficient as one purchased only ten years ago. I was blown away by this. Couple that fact with the fact that appliance costs have gone down over time and the consumer is looking at a win/win. Get a new better fridge that probably costs less that the one your are replacing and cut your electric bill in half! Not a bad deal. One caveat - in order for this to be a good move you need to avoid the temptation to keep the old fridge in the garage as your beer fridge! Let your appliance company take away your old appliance when they drop off the new one and the bulk of the fridge will get recycled.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

We had not participated in any prior Andover Day events and I can tell you that going forward we will make it a regular part of our schedule for the Fall. Despite the constant threat of rain we never got wet. Better than that was seeing all our past clients who dropped in to say "you guys built my kitchen 10 years ago and it still looks great" or "you guys built us a family room that we still love". Sometimes I forget about the many homes and lives we have impacted over the last 21 years and it was fun to have some many pleasant reminders. We even had a couple of people come by our booth to let us know that while they had not remodeled with us they had purchased a house that had a Blackdog project done by the previous owner. They went on to let us know that is was always something a Realtor highlighted when showing the home. Thanks to all those folks who stopped by to say hello.

Friday, September 30, 2011

Well maybe not kicking and screaming but, certainly not enthusiastically. This was my perspective on adding the job of Blackdog Blogger to my reasonably healthy "list of things to do".

Not to whine - I love my job and enjoy the variety of what I get to do as the President of Blackdog but, for years I have noticed Blogs that seem to start off strong and then fizzle. I am sure there is some techie phrase for this like blogus interuptus or something but, from my perspective if the content is not fresh and updated I don't really want to spend my time checking it out. Moreover, if we started a blog I certainly did not want to fall into the ranks of those who have fallen off the blogging wagon so it amounted to a commitment that I needed to be confident in making for me and for Blackdog.

While the rebuilding of our website was the impetus I also came to realize that our blog is an excellent venue to share the knowledge we have amassed over the last 22 plus years of running Blackdog. Additionally, it is a great platform for our employees to have a chance to share their ideas and information on the subject of remodeling. After all we have assemble one of the best teams in the remodeling business. Why not give them a place to share their great ideas and insights.

As a follower of our Blog you can expect great info on everything from smart and creative design ideas to how production systems make our projects run better. We will be bringing you our view on the remodeling world and hopefully help you make your next project more beautiful, more cost effective and a great experience to live through. Lofty goals - I know but, it is what we do everyday so why not share it.__________________________________________________________________________________

Sunday, September 25, 2011

We are very excited to share our new website with you. Check us out at www.blackdogbuilders.com. We have spent a lot of time remodeling our website and adding a bunch of great new information, and we are not done yet. We will be uploading video of our projects to our new YouTube channel and adding great pictures of our most recent projects to our portfolio. Spend some time on line with us and let us know what you think.

About Me

Nationally recognized for excellence in design, construction and management of residential remodeling, Blackdog has served homeowners in Southern New Hampshire and Northeastern Massachusetts since 1989.